Episode description

NHS strikes, hospital waiting times and nurses walking out - it’s a conversation that has stretched back for years: the NHS in crisis.

Almost 55,000 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E last month.

And the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates up to 500 people are dying a week as a result of these delays.

The government says its putting record funding into health and social care, but is this more than a crisis - is it an existential emergency for an NHS that needs major reform? 

In today’s episode of the Fourcast we speak to our health and social care editor, Victoria Macdonald, about her experience on the frontline of the NHS, how we got here and what steps the government could take to improve the state of our NHS.

Producer: Freya Pickford